For Evanston's Ralph Hamilton, writing poetry helps him make sense of the world, gives him a way of being, not more factual, but true. Hamilton's new book, "Teaching A Man To Unstick His Tail," is a meditation on relationships, on love and loss, and came out of a period when his mother and brother died, his son left home for college, his family broke up, and he experienced a painful romantic misadventure.

"Writing this book enabled me to put many of those things into perspective, to come to a clearer understanding, to heal perhaps, and to move forward," Hamilton says.

When Hamilton, now 60, was approaching age 50, becoming a poet was the furthest thing from his mind. Working as a successful senior research associate and co-director at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, Hamilton describes himself at the time as a man at odds with the life he was leading.

"I was wrestling with questions like — how to open myself up, how to protect myself less, how to live a less cautious life, a less closed life," he says. "I wanted people to look at my life and say 'he lived, he risked.'"

Hamilton, who studied at Oxford and earned his masters degree from Harvard, first entertained aspirations of becoming a great writer while in college studying philosophy and religion, but the lack of structure and discipline required for a writing life made this prospect illusive and unattainable.

Hamilton says his studies in poetry began with an inspired connection with renowned Evanston poet, Chris Green, professor and lecturer in the English department of DePaul University and author of poetry books, "The Sky Over Walgreens," "Resume" and "Epiphany School." Green agreed to monthly tutoring sessions with Hamilton at a neighborhood Evanston cafe, where, over coffee, he would read and give feedback on 10 poems. For six months, these casual workshops marked the beginning of Hamilton's transition into a literary life. Encouragement from Green would later compel Hamilton to pursue a low-residency masters in poetry at Bennington College in Vermont, a degree which he received in 2009.

In addition to becoming a working poet, Hamilton is also the senior editor of RHINO, an independent poetry journal founded in Evanston, celebrating its 40th year. At Rhino, the review of poetry submissions is a collaboration between its 12 editors, an eclectic group of poets who are looking to publish stories that reflect passion, originality and artistic conviction, and exemplify a love affair with language. At RHINO, they receive more than 15,000 poems each year from emerging and established poets, but unlike most journals, editors at RHINO review all submissions themselves, rather than relying on outside readers.

"We are looking for poems that push at the boundaries of form and feeling while connecting with our reading audience in Chicago and elsewhere," Hamilton says. "A good poem comes from a different place and sense of time than our daily chores and duties, though it could well be about those tasks. It gives voice to things beyond picking up the kids at school or getting a report finished by five. Those daily undertakings are necessary, to be sure, but life is infinitely more bountiful and challenging and mysterious than that."

When asked if anyone could be taught to become a poet, or if they were born with this potential, Hamilton said, "To the poet everything is useful. Talent and learning matter, to be sure, but more than that, the will, or the consistent, disciplined, exercise of a poet's craft regardless of her/his success — and some intangible alchemy, let's call it grace. That grace, will matter even more than talent and learning."

In "Teaching A Man To Unstick His Tail," Hamilton reveals the beauty and pain of everyday life, haunting the reader with those human questions that have no answers, and presenting a world full of strange and poignant order. He is currently working on his next book, "The Barnyard of Boyage," which will reflect how different his life has become, focusing on fathers and sons, male identity and growing up.

RHINO sponsors a monthly poetry reading and open mic, called RHINO Reads!, at Bros K Coffee shop in Evanston, and a monthly open poetry-writing critique session with a master poet, at The Poetry Forum, at Evanston Public Library. The next RHINO Reads takes place at 6 p.m.. July 31 at Bros K, 500 Main St., Evanston. Featured poets are Jan Bottiglieri and Sandra Marchetti. See RhinoPoetry.org.